


Cocoa Powder Hearts

by ineffablesaltflower



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Haldir is a busy security business owner, Legolas is the cute barista, M/M, Modern au but they are still elves, coffee shop AU, mentions of Elrohir, mentions of Orophin and Rúmil, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26955391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffablesaltflower/pseuds/ineffablesaltflower
Summary: Elladan and Elrohir own the Café Rivendell. Legolas starts as a new barista. Haldir comes here every day with the same order. What do you do when the new cute barista gets your order completely wrong? Exactly, you say nothing and pretend everything is fine. But how long can you keep up this game?
Relationships: Haldir of Lothlórien/Legolas Greenleaf
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Cocoa Powder Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hey,  
> its me. Flower.  
> To make Monday a bit better I decided to surprise you with another coffee shop au this Sunday evening.  
> This was more or less another prompt haha.  
> Also known as 'imagine this' and I was like 'okay I'm going to write it'.
> 
> from my favorite fellow haldir stan @haldears on Twitter:
> 
> haldir would get the SAME exact order every day and is a little irritated when a new barista gets his order wrong and he's bent on being a dick about it when he has to go back to the counter but he can't quite manage when legolas looks at him the softest way and is genuinely sorry.
> 
> Sooooo, enjoy this. I peppered it with a bit of angst inbetween because I can.
> 
> xoxo,  
> flower.

> 'Cause every night I lie in bed;  
>  The brightest colors fill my head.  
>  A million dreams are keeping me awake.  
>  I think of what the world could be –  
>  A vision of the one I see.  
>  A million dreams is all it's gonna take;  
>  A million dreams for the world we're gonna make.

Haldir pushed the door to the coffeeshop open with one shoulder while he was typing a message for his brothers.

A few months ago they had opened their own security business and it was currently thriving. He just came in to get his daily coffee, for they had to choose the next job later and possibly talk about hiring some more people. A long day ahead of him and he was quite in a hurry.

"Morning, the usual please.", Haldir said while he stepped towards the counter, without looking up from his phone, frowning. If that club could just finally decide if it wanted to hire them or not, he would be really grateful.

A quick glance towards the barista who had his back turned to him to prepare his coffee, while he searched for his money, allowed him only a glance at the halfup-half down bun the other wore in his hair. Possibly to keep the hair out of his face. Cute.

Well. Whatever did it matter.

"There you go.", the barista said with a too cheery voice for 6 am and Haldir grumbled quietly a "Thanks.", while taking the offered coffee, leaving the money on the counter.

His phone distracted him next with his ringing and Haldir quickly left to pick up, hoping it would be the phone call he had waited for ages.

Unfortunately it didn't go as he wanted it to, leaving him unsatisfied and kind of angry behind.

Haldir decided to take a sip of his coffee, hoping at least this would lift his mood, only to nearly spit it back again out of surprise. Immediately the blonde barista was absolutely not as cute anymore. How difficult could it be to put two espresso shots into it?

Haldir always took the same, he knew the usual baristas and some of them even had his order ready before he could walk through the door.

For the past seven months he always walked in there to get his coffee, the same order every day.

Just a simple caramel latte with two shots of caramel espresso. How hard could it be, really.

Immediately Haldir stormed back into the coffeeshop, the angered feelings of the phone call and the wrong coffee order ready to be let down onto the poor barista.

Said barista was about to clean the counter and nearly dropped the cloth when the wrong coffee cup was placed down with such a force, Legolas really wondered how a paper cup could make such a loud noise.

Haldir was about to loudly announce how hard it could be to make the right coffee and if the other elf thought that he had the whole day to stand in this coffee shop to wait for his right coffee.

But the sight of the barista in front of him, let him forget every coherent thought he might have been thinking the past minute.

Legolas looked up at him, swallowing a bit at the angry face. This was his first day to help out the twins with their Café and of course he was told about the costumer every morning, but apparently he had done it wrong. At least from what he could tell of the angry face.

Elladan, the other barista and also one half of the owners, had described Haldir to him and what his usual order was. There weren't that many blonde elves at 6 am in his coffeeshop, so he figured it must've been Haldir.

And Elladan might or might not have suggested that Legolas should take a closer look at the cute costumer.

Cute he was, definitely, but his angry face was a little less cute, since Legolas had hoped to get a smile from him at least.

"I'm sorry.", he already offered before the other could speak up and sighed quietly. "I did it wrong, didn't I?"

With a half hearted smile which was still brighter than it should be, Haldir thought, he held out his hand to take the coffee back.

"I'll get you a new one, as soon as possible."

Haldir would really like to know what rode him, but he found himself shaking his head, this time even offering a smile in return.

"No, no. It is fine.", Haldir quickly said and scolded himself inwardly. But the cute barista looked so sad and disappointed, how could he possibly shout at him?

"Just — uh, you forgot a bit of sugar.", Haldir quickly decided. Perhaps that way the coffee was somewhat drinkable, though he probably won't be able to rest for a whole week with its espresso shots. Haldir guessed that it were at least five normal shots. He also might possibly die from a heart attack at the amount of caffeine, but well.

Somehow he couldn't tell the new barista that the order was wrong and absolutely nothing he would ever drink. The way the baristas face lightened up at the realization that he only forgot a bit of sugar but had gotten the rest right, was almost worth it.

No, not just almost.

"I hope it's better now.", Legolas announced a few moments later and gave him the cup back. "Have a nice day."

He smiled up at him and Haldir almost forgot that he was actually kind of busy and should be on the way already. With a quick shake of his head he tried to get back to reality again and not getting lost in the others pretty features. 

"You too.", he replied as he took his coffee back. "I — gotta go. Thanks for the coffee."

Legolas waved him goodbye with another of his brilliant smiles, before turning away to clean the counter.

Elladan was right. The stranger was indeed handsome and absolutely Legolas' type. Now he just had to make the stranger see that Legolas was also 'his' type.

—

The next few weeks it was always the same procedure. Haldir came in, mostly busy, but sometimes he even had time for a little chat. And Legolas was always waiting with the coffee for him, always ready and prepared.

When there weren't that many costumers in the shop in the morning and Legolas had actually same time, he started making little things with the cocoa powder on top of the milk foam.

At first it started with little smiley faces, a leaf, a rather poorly pumpkin, he had to work on that, and even a little flower with some practice.

After a few weeks, Haldir realized that he was actually getting sort of — excited to see the barista. It was a welcoming change to the stress of work, to see the others smile and to see what little powder drawings he did today.

The only thing that was off about this was the wrong order. The wrong order Legolas believed to be the right one and the order Haldir was too kind to correct.

Yes, it had been weeks and Haldir was still drinking that normal latte with however many espresso shots Legolas put in there. What was the harm in that anyway?

They might have kept playing that game for at least another few months, Legolas preparing his coffee and Haldir pretending that it was exactly how he wanted it to be, if not for Elladan.

One morning Elladan came in earlier to start his shift together with Legolas and the blonde elf was currently very concentrated on making the coffee for his handsome costumer.

"What are you doing?", Elladan asked, more or less interested while cutting open the cake.

"Preparing Haldirs order.", Legolas returned all too proudly while adding the espresso shots.

Those shots were the part Elladan was thrown off, confusion shown on his face as his attention was now completely on Legolas.

"Did he change his order?"

It was Legolas' time to look up, nose wrinkling in confusion. "No? It is still the same, like you showed me."

The dark haired elf nearly dropped his knife including the cake because of laughter.

"Oh. Oh dear, Legolas. This is nothing at all the way I showed you.", he managed to say after a hard moment of laughing.

Legolas blinked slowly, from the coffee cup, back up to Elladans face.

"No?", he asked even slower, realizing that perhaps this might have been the reason for Haldirs angry reaction on the first day.

"No. And you're saying you did it this way, the whole time? Oh and the fact that he didn't correct you. Oh my —"

Another laughter shook the older elfs features and he shook his head. He had to tell his twin later. This was better than he had imagined.

But soon he took pity on Legolas' miserable face and moved over to him.

"Come. We still got another few minutes before he arrives. I'll show you."

Haldir opened the door just in time when Legolas' finished the order with a small powder heart. He smiled brightly and put it onto the counter, waiting almost impatiently for the other elf to pick it up and try.

"Thanks.", Haldir said as he took it, giving Legolas another smile. Fortunately he did have some today. He took the prepared coffee, staring at the heart for a bit too long, before taking a sip.

Again he nearly spit it back out of surprise, but this time it was a definitely pleasing surprise. Though Haldir had no idea how Legolas suddenly knew.

Until he heard Elladans snickering from around the counter who couldn't have refrained from watching them.

"Why didn't you say anything?", Legolas asked and crossed his arms, perfect eyebrow arching over pretty eyes.

Haldir quickly took another sip, hoping it would stop him from blushing. Really. That was his true weakness. Blushing.

"I – didn't because, well, you looked so sad and how could I possibly tell you that it was wrong?", Haldir asked almost helpless and shrugged. "Besides it wasn't that bad..."

"Not that bad? I put so much espresso in there, have you even rested the past weeks?", Legolas asked, lips twitching while he suppressed a grin.

"Barely.", the other elf admitted, laughing awkwardly while staring at his cup for a moment.

Legolas sighed softly, letting out a short laugh as well. "I'm sorry. I am. Truly. You shouldn't have to drink the wrong order all the time."

Haldir waved it off and gave him a honest smile. "That's on me. I should have said something."

"Yeah, you should have.", Legolas confirmed and thought about it for a moment, before reaching for one of the cupcakes.

"There. This one goes on me. As an apology.", he decided and grinned openly at his costumer.

"Fine. Apology accepted.", Haldir decided and took the cupcake also, grinning softly back. "I gotta go."

Haldir was already on his way to the door, when Legolas seemed to have pulled all of his confidence together.

"Haldir! See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow.", Haldir agreed and waved him with the cupcake before finally leaving.

—

The next day Legolas waited with the coffee, impatiently looking at the clock at the wall. Haldir should've been here ten minutes ago. The coffee was slowly growing cold. Every time the door opened, Legolas looked up in the hope to spot a familiar face.

But the day went on and on and the clock wouldn't stop, but Haldir didn't show up.

Stubbornly Legolas let the coffee standing on the counter until Elrohir, the other half of the owners came around to take over Legolas' shift.

Only then did Legolas take the coffee and dumped it. He was worrying. And he hadn't even asked the other for his phone number, so he couldn't call them either.

Legolas didn't sleep well that night.

Half of the night he thought about asking out Haldir for a date, if he ever dared to. And the other half he was awake because he was too worried about what could have happened to Haldir since he didn't show up. Maybe he couldn't show up after all.

Unfortunately the procedure repeated itself the next few days. Legolas prepared the order, put it onto the counter next to him while he served other costumers but the elf didn't show up today either.

In the end he had to dump it again.

On the fourth day Legolas was ready to bust of worry. His lips were almost bloody from biting on them in concentration while he stared at the clock, like he could summon Haldir with only the power of his will.

Any time now. Any – time – now. Legolas gripped the prepared latte a bit harder. What if Haldir simply forgot about him?

Unlikely. Even if he didn't care about Legolas, he would get his coffee anyway. The twins served the best kind around here, Haldir would hardly change the coffee shop.

Just when he was about to give up for the day again, the door bell jingled and Haldir stepped in. Dark circles under his eyes and a tired expression on his face did nothing to reassure Legolas, but at least he was here.

"You are here.", Legolas said enthusiastically and his face lit up like a million stars at the same time.

Legolas hadn't been able to rest the past days either, worry filling him to the brim way too much.

"Where have you been?", the younger elf blurted out, holding out the coffee so Haldir could take it.

Oh. There it was. The cocoa powder heart. Apparently Legolas had settled on his favorite cocoa art. Haldir could get used to that little heart. He could.

"I own a security business. And Orophin and Rúmil, my brothers, they were supposed to take over the job for the owner of the new club across the city. Ah, Mordor. Thats what it's been called. They got into some trouble that night and — well. I was late. Ended kind of nasty for them. But they are fine now, at least as fine as they could be after such an incident. I just had to take care of the business alone and of them of course."

He offered Legolas a tired smile and took finally a sip of the magic coffee he had missed. It tasted extraordinarily good when Legolas made it. Exactly what he needed and to revive him. 

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that.", Legolas frowned, knowing that his worry wasn't that wrong after all. Though it was not Haldir who got hurt.

Silence settled over them for a moment too long for it not to be uncomfortable.

But Haldir seemed to have needed that moment, looking at Legolas thoughtfully.

"When's your shift over?"

The younger elfs face lit up again and Haldir wondered how that was simply possible. Every time it was like watching the nightsky come alive or even the sun in the morning.

Haldir decided that he didn't want to waste another day without seeing that face every morning. And not only in the coffee shop.

"At three.", Legolas let him know and pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. His hair style had become a little messy over the past days since he wasn't able to rest.

"How about you bring us two cups of your wonderful coffee and we'll meet in the park?", Haldir asked and placed down the money for the proposed coffee.

"That sounds like a good idea.", Legolas decided, a bright smile accompanying his words. He couldn't stop smiling.

—

Legolas already waited in the grass for Haldir, eyes closed and face turned towards the warm sun, the paper cups next to him.

Silently Haldir joined him, the only indication that Legolas noticed him was the small smile the younger one suddenly carried on his face.

"Hey.", he said quietly after a while, opening his eyes to look at Haldir.

"Hey.", Haldir replied just as quietly, reaching for both cups to offer Legolas his.

In comfortable silence they shared their coffee, occasionally talking about each others days, Legolas asking about Haldirs brothers.

"I was really worried.", Legolas admitted and tilted his head. "That something happened to you."

"You were?", Haldir asked, almost sounding surprised. Perhaps he was. He never had been the best in picking up signs, though Legolas was literally trying to wield the biggest signs in history.

"Yes.", he admitted then and rested his head on Haldirs shoulder until he had finished his coffee.

"Mhm.", Haldir grumbled, a bit of a loss at words. He wasn't able to add anything anyway, because Legolas got up to throw their empty cups away, before coming back and settling his head on Haldirs lap out of a sudden income of thoughts, blinking up at him against the sun with a bright grin.

"Hey.", Legolas said and bit his lip.

"Hey.", Haldir replied quietly and reached down, letting his hand run through the blonde mess of hair, opening the hasty bun Legolas had put his hair into earlier this morning.

Legolas' eyes fell close and he simply enjoyed the carding of fingers through it.

"You should properly braid it. Or at least wear that half up bun. That suited you.", Haldir scolded him softly.

"I was tired and couldn't bother to so this morning, to be honest.", Legolas admitted, a faint shade of red painting his cheeks.

"May I?", Haldir asked, stopping in his movements. "Braiding your hair, I mean."

Legolas nodded and allowed Haldir to spill his hair all over his lap so he could properly brush it out with his fingers as good as possible.

Legolas might or might not have fallen into the state of rest elves drifted off to, while Haldir concentrated on braiding his hair. It was so relaxing and calming.

Only when the sun went down and the last rays of sunshine disappeared, Legolas shivered at the sudden colder air.

"I need to work soon.", Haldir sighed when he noticed that Legolas was back with him again.

"And I should probably go home and rest some more.", Legolas admitted and sat up, grinning half heartedly. "Since I have to get up early tomorrow again."

They both weren't exactly fond of the fact of parting and leaving, but they had to.

Haldir helped him up and didn't let go of his hand as they strolled down the road.

Until they truly had to part because they had to go into different directions.

"See you tomorrow?", Legolas asked again, smiling briefly.

"See you tomorrow. I promise.", Haldir replied and squeezed Legolas' hand once more before letting go of it.

They both went down their own way, until Legolas stopped a few meters away and turned around again.

"Haldir, wait. I think you forgot something.", he said with quite of a mischievous grin.

The older elf turned around in confusion as well, raising his eyebrow in question just in the moment as he suddenly had two arms full of Legolas and arms wrapped around his neck.

Haldirs hand came up to be buried into the hair he braided earlier, a grin stealing itself onto his lips as they connected with Legolas'.

"This.", Legolas muttered against his lips. "That's what you forgot."

For a moment they stayed like that, lips barely brushing against each other, a chaste kiss, before Legolas let go of him.

"Have fun at work.", Legolas said softly, earning himself a kiss on the cheek, before finally parting for real.

And if Haldir was a bit late to work because he stood on the same spot, star struck for at least five minutes, well, nobody had to know.

> coffee is all well and good, but I would rather have your lips kiss me awake every morning from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> Also again thank you for all of your great feedback. It still makes me so happy. Talk to me on Twitter!
> 
> @HaldirsLoth.
> 
> You can also send me prompts there. :)


End file.
